Michael ‘Venom’ Page promises to ‘finish his journey’ in Bellator title showdown against Yaroslav Amosov before settling old score

Michael ‘Venom’ Page had to be convinced to accept his Bellator world title shot against Yaroslav Amosov, but the Londoner is now focused on proving on home soil he is the true king of the welterweight division.

Page takes on undefeated champion Amosov in one of the biggest British MMA fights in history on 13 May at the SSE Arena, Wembley.

It marks the biggest step in an MMA career that has spanned a decade with the 34-year-old challenging for world title gold for the first time.

A victory over old rival Douglas Lima effectively paved the way for his big night last October, with Page securing a split decision win to somewhat avenge his knockout defeat to the Brazilian two years earlier.

While moving on to fight the champion was the logical next step, Page was so consumed by settling the score with Lima in a trilogy fight that he was ready to put a world title challenge on hold.

‘I was adamant I wanted to fight this guy [Lima] again,’ Page told Metro.co.uk. ‘My coaches and management, everyone came together and said it doesn’t make sense what you are doing, they told me: ‘Go for the belt’.

‘If you have the belt you can choose who you want to fight next anyway. And if I want that trilogy fight after, so be it. They told me: ‘Complete your journey first and then figure out what you want to sweep up afterwards’. And it makes sense.

‘I see myself as at the top already. I’ve never really cared that much about the belt. I’ve always considered myself one of the best and I’ve always seen myself as that. So having the belt only proves it to everyone else, not to me.’

Standing in his way is Amosov. The 28-year-old holds a staggering 26-0 record, the best active streak in MMA and just three wins behind the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov.

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